Muted
by goofoofighter
Summary: Read the story and you will know what it is about.
1. Delicate Ears

Disclaimer: I do not own any character or happening in 'Inuyasha.' The thoughts that led up to this story (of which I have subjected Rumiko Takahashi's characters to) are all mine.  
  
Muted  
  
Chapter 1: Delicate Ears  
  
His thoughts were very confusing. He had no idea how disturbing silence could be. Trying to concentrate, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall of Kaede's small shack. The afternoon sun felt warm on his face. He could still hear them, could still hear everything that was around him. But only if he imagined it.  
And sometimes what he imagined he heard was wrong. Oftentimes his mistakes had gotten him in trouble. So he imagined what might have actually happened. Sometimes it was apparent, but other times it was hard to tell, like watching a movie for the first time, but the audio was muted. Not understanding annoyed him, so he turned his mind to past memories. He listened intently to all the sounds his delicate ears had captured.  
  
It was all so wonderful...  
  
Too bad he had taken it all for granted. Now he worried about losing the sound in his memories. He did not hear them calling his attention back to reality.  
  
"Inuyasha!"  
Kagome, Sango, and Shippou were trying to get the hanyou's attention, but it was not working. He didn't even flinch. Kagome reached out her hand, placed it on his shoulder and gently shook it.  
He must've jumped three feet off the ground. Quickly resettling himself, he crossed his arms and fixed an angry glare at Kagome. His reaction frightened her, she had no idea it would be so hard for him to cope.  
She hoped he would understand.  
"Inuyasha, I'm really sorry that this happened to you... I mean- if I hadn't have left again you wouldn't have-"she glanced at him while speaking, it was hard for her to keep eye contact – she felt so guilty. He looked lost and confused, like a child who had forgotten the way home. She had never seen Inuyasha like this. It hurt her to see him so lost. It hurt her more that she didn't know how to help him.  
His look changed. He shifted his eyes to look down at the ground, his shoulders slumped. He looked sorry, sad. He looked defeated. Kagome felt something on her cheek. She rubbed it off with her hand. Wet. Tears. She quickly turned her face away- she could not let Inuyasha see her like this, not when she couldn't explain. Sango comforted her as Shippou tried to translate for Inuyasha. Dogs and foxes had some things in common; perhaps he could make him understand in a different way.  
  
He watched Sango take Kagome to the shack, and he stared for a few moments until Shippou caught his attention. He seemed to be putting on some sort of show... He watched for a while, amused by his act. He realized Shippou was trying to communicate with him when the kitsune child looked at him with a questioning "are you paying attention?" look. He tried to make sense of the charade.  
  
They. Sad. Head. Walk. Cry. What?  
  
Shippou had an idea. He transformed into a dog and attempted to communicate.  
  
She was very regretful. Submissive. Sad about ears.  
  
Inuyasha nodded his head slowly, opened his mouth and spoke in a motion of understanding. He meant to say "Ah," but he wasn't sure that was actually how it sounded. He hadn't tried speaking much since he couldn't hear. If he spoke wrong, it would show weakness, and he didn't want to be seen as weak now that he was deaf.  
Shippou was communicating again.  
  
Demon. Kirara perhaps? Shippou pantomimed 'Kirara' to answer Inuyasha's confused look.  
  
Kirara. Kirara will help. Kirara will speak.  
  
Inuyasha breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't have to be left out again. There were a few times he had felt alone. Even just last night- everyone was around the fire in Kaede's hut, talking about what happened (he had assumed). Every now-and-again a glance would come his way, a look of pity. He hated being pitied. And not a word was directed to him. Not that he could have understood, but it would have comforted him, at least, had they tried to find a way to speak to him.  
He thought about this. He used to listen all the time. There were always times they didn't bother speaking to him. But watching them talk, and not hearing anything that was said was like watching someone keep a secret behind your back. It was agonizing.  
  
She was home in her own time. Her class had a field trip to observe a new cutting-edge piece of technology in a factory for a rather popular electronics company. She herself owned a number of products from this company. Her stereo, her little television, her portable radio she used to carry everywhere. It was a little outdated now, but still very useful. Even her old hand-held game system which she had handed down to her little brother Souta was made by them!  
To sum all this up; she was excited! She would not have missed this trip for the world. So excited that she had completely forgotten about Inuyasha.  
He had come to collect her again, and had followed her class to the factory. And obviously (being from the past,) he didn't understand much of this metal mess at all. He would let nothing get in his way until he had found her.  
  
Unfortunately, he had used a bit too much brute force..  
  
He had taken out a few electronic devices, throwing the entire factory into chaos. A noise, a blur of red, and then his golden eyes. He looked like he felt triumphant – he had found her again. She was surprised, almost pleased, until she noticed that the entire place was falling apart. Her class had already left to find cover – there was no way she could catch up to them.  
She had shouted out a warning, Inuyasha had saved her from the destroyed machinery. She had thought they were safe.  
  
She was wrong.  
  
She heard something barely audible, but it was driving the hanyou crazy. He clawed at his head and shivered fiercely. He screamed in agony as his ears began to bleed profusely- staining his hair, their clothes, creating streams over his hands, on his face.  
This was all very strange, she was terrified. The new equipment sparked, shorted, and self-destructed. Kagome had tried to warn him, but he did not respond. There was no time for a second warning, though. Before she could do as much as reach out a hand, a large chunk of metal from the machine came flying and hit him from behind, knocking him onto her. She caught him, but fell back. She had tried to move, but she couldn't budge his unconscious body.  
It was all over, she was sure.  
She remembered seeing debris falling, and crying.  
  
She abruptly woke from her nightmare, breathing heavily, sweating. She looked around, no on had awoken except for Kirara, who mewed softly and went back to sleep. She calmed her breath and let her heartbeat slow for a moment and let it sink in that it was all a dream. She looked at Inuyasha. He was sleeping peacefully, alone in his mind with not a sound to disturb him. Her selfishness had caused him to become deaf, and she hated herself for it. She wished she could give his sense back to him, wished she could go back in time and at least remember to tell him that she was leaving. But she couldn't.  
The first thing she could remember since the accident was waking up at home. She guessed that Inuyasha had brought her there, refusing even to clean up until she was awake. She had said his name and he smiled at her. She had hugged him and went on about how glad she was that he was alright. She was surprised to hear no reply, he usually said something arrogant and stupid, but this time he just looked away.  
"Kagome..." he said. He had said it slowly, precisely, softly, and far too airy.  
That was when she knew for sure that something was definitely wrong. 


	2. Good Vibrations

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own Inuyasha... blah blah blah ...Enjoy!   
  
**Chapter 2: Good Vibrations**  
  
He woke up early in the morning. Everything was still in shades of grey and blue, and everyone else was still asleep. He had to figure something out, he felt like he might go insane if he could not talk to someone. Shippou had found a way for him to understand what _they_ were saying, but he still had no way to speak back.  
He spent a good couple of hours trying to figure out some way to speak to his friends. He thought of a number of bizarre ways of speaking, and after testing them on his own, decided that they would not work. He had heard about a thing from the future Kagome called 'sign language,' and tried it, but he couldn't remember _any_ of the symbols. But, just because he was deaf didn't mean he couldn't speak, right? But how would he know if he was speaking correctly? He thought about this question quite a bit, and wasn't getting much of anywhere. He kept thinking himself in circles. This was all so confusing!  
Kirara noticed his aggravation. She walked over, curled up next to him and purred. He looked down and petted the little hellcat. He knew what a purr sounded like.  
This sparked something in his mind. How did he know she was purring? He couldn't see her... He could feel her, he decided, he could feel the vibrations that made the purring noise. Maybe if he could use this...  
He went back to sleep. Some small solution, or even just a small start to a solution to him was a great relief. Besides, he was getting a headache.

After a quiet breakfast (an eerily quiet breakfast), the group had commenced their morning conversation. Inuyasha leaned against the wall of the shack, just like any normal day, and watched them talk. He concentrated on how their mouths moved when they spoke. With Kirara translating for him, it didn't take all too long for him to understand some of what they were saying on his own. There was talk of down spirits, comforting words, guidance, how to help Inuyasha, and rumors of shikkon shards (according to Kirara).  
He would have to practice speaking quickly, he was not sure if he was ready to continue fighting without learning a new way to sense.  
  
Such talk of sixth senses... He wished he had one right now.  
  
The rest of the day passed with no special purpose; laundry, cooking, cleaning, helping villagers with illnesses, Kagome trying to study, Miroku trying to be holy, basic uneventful day. The sun shining, the flowers growing, he was almost positive that there were probably birds singing somewhere, and the stream was sure to be making noise, and Shippou playing games with Kirara and local children. That was just fine with Inuyasha, he didn't feel like abusing the child today.  
  
Darn that 'sit'!  
  
Inuyasha stood and calmly walked to the stream. He didn't actually walk to the stream, though, just nearby. His self-invented excersize worked better when Kagome didn't know he was watching. She was the only one he could stand watching for extended periods of time. That whench seemed to think he liked her... Feh! She was just easy prey, people from the future seem to be quite unobservant.  
He sat on the limb of a tree near the river, and (so he thought) out of sight. Closing his eyes to concentrate, he sat and "listened." At first he felt nothing (and for a while thought he had bitten off more than he could chew), it was too quiet. He opened his eyes and stared boredly at the stream. Perhaps watching to help him feel the sound would work. His attention perked when he thought he felt a vibration, he was confirmed by a swift tug on his neck and an express, all-expenses paid trip to earth.

She was pleased to see his figure fall to the ground. She had no idea how long the pervert was watching, but she had spotted him when she was cleaning her own clothes (which happened to be last). She still felt rather naked in her new bathing suit, but her old one had worn out, and designers in society today... That in itself angered her enough, but what with the peeping hanyou around, it was enough to push her off the edge.  
"INUYASHA!" she bellowed. Either he "heard" it or knew it was coming. There was pre terror of expectation in his eyes.  
"OSUWARI!"  
She felt slightly appeased.  
She waded across the stream and stood over him, dripping. He looked at her through the corners of his eyes, afraid that if she were to catch him staring that she would sit him.  
"WHAT makes you think you can watch me take off my clothes anytime you like?!" she paused. Inuyasha helplessly shook his head, he only had the slightest clue what she was talking about, but she was speaking too fast for him to understand.  
"A woman values her privacy! You have NO idea what we deal with in my time! Osuwari, osuwari, OSUWARI!"  
She watched the muscles in his face tighten as the necklace pulled down on his body three more times. He uttered a pitiful noise like a gurgle and a cat coughing up a hairball. She turned to return to her laundry.  
  
It wasn't there.  
  
"EYAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"  
  
**New A/Ns:**

**Raewolfdemon** Thanks! Thanks for the idea, I may use part of it, but the rest (no offense) sounds a little too usual. Keep writing, the only way to get better is to practice.

**shamanic destiny** Thank you! I will try to update as much as I can. Unfortunately my parents don't let me have the password to the internet, but I will find a way! lol  
  
**DraGonMistress704** Thank you! Well, think about this; to me the thought of his cute little ears being deaf makes them seem cuter. shrugs Don't ask why, but my mind seems to picture them more fuzzy and adorable when they don't work. O.o  
  
**kuroi raishu** Thank you! =) I'll try to update as much as I can... but, you get to read them more than the ppl online... O.o I might send disks to you with updates so you can help me to update more often, okay? Ty  
  
**Storm-Maker** Thank you! Actually, that's what helped me to develop the story before I even started writing. If I had no clue how to help him, it might not have gone far. '' We did a small unit on Helen Keller sometime in Grade School (I think), but it helped a lot!   
  
**NEKO INU FANGIRL** Thank you! phew So it is original... I was worried about other people having my same ideas, it tends to happen a lot. You know how depressing when every good idea you have is already done? I've actually never read one where he was blind, which one would you recommend? I'd like to see what they did with it.  
  
((old A/N: The idea for this story came while I was sitting on the porch during a thunderstorm. The thunder pounded and I could feel the ground shake beneath me. I started thinking about sound, and concluded that the sense of hearing was a demented form of touch. Bits of animation from the first chapter flitted through my head. I nodded and said to my cats; "Yeah, I could do that." But now I'm a little bit stuck, and would appreciate any comments and especially any ideas. Full recognition for those ideas that I decide use or build off of, of course! Also any ideas for different titles for the story and it's chapters, I'm really bad at titles. '' Ty everyone!))


End file.
